These past few years Anime are in the top spots everywhere and in terms of everything. People are watching more anime, people are buying more Manga, people are visiting more related Festivals and ofc people are buying more and more anime-related merch.
The companies aren't stupid and that's the reason why you see anime-related stuff everywhere. Comic shops that were selling only comics, are now selling manga as well. Cinemas are now playing anime movies. In every shop that sells toys and stuff, you will also find anime merch as simple as Yu-Gi-Oh cards.
The film industry outside of Japan that considered anime a second-rate kind of thing is now creating live-action anime, has anime on their platforms and even well-known actors are taking part in them. Thus, for all of us who liked anime since we were kids, we are living the dream!
Now in case you don't know, i have both watching anime since i was a kid and i also started collecting Funko Pops around 2 years ago. An anime that made a lot of people crazy and also led some new people into the anime world is Solo Leveling.
As someone who has read Korean Manga since before it was a thing, at a time when Korean Manga were considered B-rate, which i completely disagree i have stumbled upon Solo Leveling and read it. Btw, the original source is a novel. Anyway, if you ask me, it's mediocre and not my cup of tea. I don't really like OP character since basically the beginning but there are others that like that kind of thing so who am i to judge?
Recently, Funko Pop announced an exclusive Sung Jinwoo Funko Pop, the one in the picture at the beginning of my post. Even though Funko has limited and exclusive pops, the numbered pops are, let's say, the most rare ones. So this one has 9500 in total around the world.
Then the company decides how many of them will be sent to USA and Europe and does something pretty cool. They give a certain number of these numbered pops to different stores in different countries. The stores then follow different methods, with the most usual one being announcing that they will sell the said Funko Pop on a specific date, first-come, first-served.
That way, people are getting more in the "hunt" for their collectibles, a new memory is created and they get a chance to acquire a rare piece. Note that another cool thing is that the price is retail price around 20$ or 20 euros, which is way too cool if you ask me and you will understand why if you keep reading.
So this funko pop came to my country as well in one store and the procedure was as stated above. Even though some other 9500 pop have been in my country, Sung Jinwoo was a huge success. It had the most people waiting in line. Typically, at least in my country, you may see a line of 5-10 people and later on, some more might come but they won't wait in a line.
This time, it was like 100 people waiting in line, which is huge as we are talking about specific merch for a specific anime! Ofc it was sold out and during the next days, you could find this pop on other platforms from people who were selling it for 60-100 euros! Let's see what the future holds for us!
Are you into anime funko pops? Are you into Solo Leveling?
